


Decoding Galran technology and other fun things to do on Christmas morning

by underwater_smiles



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Gen, a teeny-weeny bit of angst but nothing bad, so I didn't actually want to tag them because that's annoying, the other members of team voltron are in this but only briefly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 03:00:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9052543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/underwater_smiles/pseuds/underwater_smiles
Summary: I wrote this as a gift for Mimi (alteanns on tumblr) as a part of the voltron secret santa. It's a little bit rushed and unbeta'd, so beware!





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this as a gift for Mimi (alteanns on tumblr) as a part of the voltron secret santa. It's a little bit rushed and unbeta'd, so beware!

Allura looked at her, eyebrows scrunched together, lips turned down. “Christmas? What’s that?”

 

Pidge almost instantly regretted telling the group that Christmas was only a few short days away (on Earth, at least).

 

Lance had jumped up immediately, yelling about how he had to find gifts for everyone and that he had no time to do it; he dragged Hunk along with him, who grinned and followed suit as Lance fled the room in a Christmas induced frenzy.

 

Shiro was nowhere to be found, and Keith got up quickly, muttering a lame excuse about “finding presents” just so he could avoid taking part in the impending explanation the two Alteans were about to receive.

 

Which meant that Pidge had to do it.

 

_Damn._

 

Allura and Coran were both watching her expectantly, though Coran looked more amused than anything else after all the ruckus Lance had caused.

 

“Alright,” Pidge began, thinking about where it was best to start. “Christmas is a holiday celebrated by a lot of people on Earth. It was a religious holiday but now it’s just more of a time of year, I guess?” Allura nodded along, fascinated; Coran had leaned back, expertly rolling his beard between his fingers as he listened.

  
“Anyway, on Christmas day people give gifts to people they care about, as a sign of love or gratitude, or whatever.”

 

“Hmm, interesting.” Allura murmured. “We didn’t really have a celebration like that on Altea, did we Coran?”

 

Coran tugged on his beard again and shook his head. “No. The humans are quite a fascinating race!”

 

* * *

 

Pidge had been working diligently on a Galra program she’d found, working her way through firewalls and security checks to get the information she needed; she was sure that this program held important information about that Galra that they could use against them.

 

And just when she thought she was making a breakthrough, an error message popped up.

 

Again.

 

Frustrated, Pidge shoved the computer from her lap with a growl. She rubbed tiredly at her burning eyes; stars burst behind her eyelids at the excessive pressure.

 

She just _couldn’t_ figure out the stupid program. Nothing Pidge did worked, messages popping up repeatedly to tell her _Hey, congrats! You suck!_ Just the thought of the stupid error messages made her blood boil.

 

The problem was, Pidge wasn’t used to failing, especially when it came to technology; it was what she was best at. So to fail so epically, repeatedly, was a bit of a slap in the face, to say the least.

 

And it wasn’t even that Pidge had never failed before, because that was hardly the truth; failing was practically second nature to Pidge at this point. But she always figured it out, always fought her way around the problem to find the solution that had previously evaded her.

 

Except this time.

 

Pidge pulled the discarded computer back into her lap and pushed her glasses up her nose. _Fuck this stupid program._ Pidge though bitterly. _I’ll figure it out. I’m smarter than a damn computer program!_

 

Energy reset through the wondrous power of spite, Pidge started fumbling her way through the program once more. The translator she’d come up with to decode alien languages worked overtime, switching unfamiliar symbols into recognizable ones.

 

Pidge could feel herself getting more excited as she got through more and more of the decoding process. Her excitement built, she was so, so close to finally finishing this dumb program.

 

And then an error message popped up.

 

Pidge nearly screamed.

 

To avoid either destroying her computer or committing murder (Pidge’s brain quickly brought up all the wrongdoings the others had done but her banished the thought) Pidge again squeezed her eyes shut, pinching the bridge of her nose.

A soft tap on the metal doorframe of her room brought Pidge back to reality. Allura stood in the doorway, a smile on her lips. “I was passing by and heard some weird noises in here. Everything okay?” She asked, though Pidge suspected Allura already knew the answer if her half-knowing, half-sympathetic smile was anything to go by.

 

Pidge was hesitant to answer her question honestly; it wasn’t that she didn’t like or trust Allura -- quite the opposite actually -- it was just that Pidge liked working through problems on her own. _Except that you can’t figure this one out on your own, dummy._ Pidge reminded herself, and cringed. “Actually, no.”

 

Pidge wasn’t sure if Allura’s surprise was real or not. “Oh? What’s the problem?” She moved into the room, sitting gracefully down next to Pidge where she sat on the ground in the middle of the room.

 

Moving the computer so that it could be seen easily by both Allura and herself, Pidge said, “I’ve been working on this program that I found a while back when I raided a galran computer system. I think it’s important -- it mirrors a few other systems I’ve recently worked through that had important information on the galra -- so I’ve been trying to decode it, except I can’t --” Pidge stuttered to a stop, suddenly embarrassed to say that she’d failed out loud; she hated admitting it even to herself. “I just can’t figure it out.” She said after a pause.

 

Allura looked thoughtful, not judgmental ( _thank god_ Pidge thought) as she talked. When she was done, Allura tapped a finger lightly over her lips as she mulled over what Pidge had just told her.

 

After a second, her eyes lit up and she clapped her hands together excitedly. “Oh! I think I have something that could help!” She all but jumped to her feet, dress swishing around dangerously and Pidge wondered briefly how it didn’t trip her. “I need to go get something, I’ll be right back!” Allura then promptly rushed from the room, leaving Pidge gaping in her wake.

 

A long time passed and Pidge started to wonder where Allura was. But the princess always kept her promises, and came back with her arms behind her back; her eyes gleamed with such ferocity Pidge was taken aback.

 

Allura sat back down in the same spot she’d been in before she left, arms still held tightly behind her back. “Here it is!”

 

She pulled a small, poorly box out and handed it to Pidge. As Pidge fumbled with the wrapping, Allura said, “I know it’s uh, what did you call it? Crisis?”

 

“Christmas?” Pidge supplied, a smile beginning to form as she slowly realized what Allura had given her.

 

“Yes! Yes, Christmas.” The foreign word was mangled slightly by Allura’s inexperienced tongue. She watched eagerly as Pidge finished tearing the wrapping paper off of the box and opened the lid.

 

Inside was a small device; it looked similar to a USB drive, but Pidge couldn’t quite place her finger on why it was so different. She held it close to her face, examining the alien technology.

 

“I was just going to give it to you when I found it a few days ago, because I thought it might be of some service to you. But then you told me about your human holiday, Christmas,” She grinned at Pidge as she remembered the word, “And how you give gifts for those you care about and, well. I thought it’d be nice to give it to you. Happy Christmas.” Allura finished with a soft smile on her face.

 

Pidge’s eyes welled slightly with tears. “Allura, thank you so much.” The fact that Allura confirmed that Pidge was someone she cared about made her heart swell. Pidge leaned forward and hugged Allura tightly.

 

“Alright.” Allura pulled away, her eyes bright with determination, “Now let’s figure out this program.”


End file.
